Hardened Hearts and Tiger's Teeth
by Lottiemoon
Summary: When Natsu and Happy left Lucy behind with only a letter, she decides to visit some friends and try to work through her feelings of abandonment before Natsu returns. In the year he is away, Lucy makes new friends, becomes a stronger mage, and hardens her heart against future feelings to avoid being hurt again.
1. Chapter 1

Hardened Hearts and Tiger's Teeth

Lucy never really thought about what she would do if she wasn't a member of Fairy Tail, or best friends with the lovable Natsu. She didn't have to because she thought her life couldn't get any better than it already was. She loved her friends so much that they were basically her family, her best friend she loved more than anyone else, possibly even more than she was willing to admit right now. She had her spirits with her and knew she could always count on them to help her out. Lucy was so content with her life, so happy with everything, that she simply couldn't fathom any sort of drastic change in it. Perhaps that's why she didn't believe what was written on the note in front of her the first few times she read it.

Lucy arrived at her house one evening after spending some time at the guild. She noticed that Natsu wasn't in the guild hall like normal, but shrugged it off to a possibility that he and Happy went fishing to fill the cat's never-ending fish obsession. Lucy started to unlock her door and secretly hoped that her pink haired friend was asleep in her bed and that's why she hadn't seen him all day, but after entering in her hopes were let down to an empty apartment. Shaking her head and putting her stuff down, the blonde noticed the window was cracked and there was an envelope on her living room table. Picking it up, she remarked about the horrible handwriting, barely being able to make out that it said 'To Lucy'. Ripping it open, it took a few times to read through the entire letter partially due to ineligible writing and partially due to disbelief.

"Natsu… leaving? What? No. He wouldn't just leave and not tell me. He wouldn't just pack up Happy and himself and take off with just a sad excuse of a letter to say goodbye. This has to be some sort of a joke." Lucy mumbled to herself while reading it an 8th time. Putting the letter down and grabbing her keys, she left her apartment to head out to Natsu and Happy's house to confirm that it was just a silly joke that they were playing on her to get her attention or something. There's no way that her best friend in the entire world would just leave her a note and take off on some stupid journey to become stronger.

The walk to Natsu's house was about 20 minutes since he and Happy lived on the outskirts of town in a forest clearing. During the walk Lucy went from disbelief to anger over the situation.

"What a horrible prank to pull on someone, when I get there I'm not even going to knock! Just barge right in and demand answers to why they would pull something like this, it's not even funny! Pretending to leave and not tell me, it's inexcusable!" Lucy angrily spoke to herself before walking up to the front door. Pushing it in, not caring about proper knocking, Lucy expected to see pink and blue hair flying around but instead was greeted by a vacant, and surprisingly, clean house. Lucy has only been over here a few times, but every time she visited the house would be in total chaos with little to no floor visible through clothing, treasures, and just plain junk littering the areas. Seeing the house so clean caused the pit of Lucy's stomach to drop out beneath her and the reality of the situation slammed down. They really were gone. Lucy dropped to the floor and wrapped her arms around her stomach as the tears began to stream down her face.

"…Nat..su… Happy… No. How… How could you? How could you just…. L…leave me?" Lucy struggled to cough out between tears. Not caring about appearances or who happened to stop by to check up on the dragonslayer, Lucy dragged herself over to Natsu's hammock and pulled herself up. Still holding onto her stomach because she felt like it was attempting to tear her body apart, Lucy curled up into a ball in the hammock and allowed the tears to flow freely. Lucy stayed in that position until her body became numb and the tears she cried long dried up, slowly drifting in and out of sleep. Her heart felt like it was physically breaking every time she thought of her best friend, every time she heard a noise and thought they were home only for it to be the wind, and every time the scent of firewood would assault her nose. She hasn't felt this bad since her mother died years ago, not even when she found out her father passed away.

The sun slowly started to rise and with it the light that illuminated the rest of the small house. She got off the hammock and started to slowly walk around, inspecting the house. Natsu's memories were pinned and posted and preserved everywhere, little reminders of every mission that he and the blonde had taken in the past. Each and every one stabbed a new knife into her heart as she combed over the papers and tokens from the jobs, remembering little snippets of every one. Her maid outfit was in the corner, perfectly cleaned and dust free. It was almost like Natsu valued this one memory over the rest since it was the first mission the two had taken together. The start of a beautiful friendship that the blonde obviously held in higher regard then the pink haired dragonslayer. Lucy wasn't dumb, she knew her best friend was dense at times and didn't always think things through. But she thought he was smart enough, or at least cared enough, to let her know about his life changing plans before just going and doing them. Last night's pain hit her in full force again and she fell back to the floor in agony. It was like the life she loved crumbled before her, nothing else held the same amount of happiness as it did before when he was with her. She flipped between pain, rejection, and finally anger. Angry at her idiotic friend who would just leave her behind when they were supposed to be a team. So he wanted to train and become stronger, why couldn't she have joined him? Why did Happy get to go but she was left behind? It wasn't fair and the blonde decided that if she meant so little to him, then she would just pick herself up off his floor and push her feelings to the side. Besides, who knew if he had left anything for the guild, or even told Master about his grand plan of leaving all his friends behind and venturing out alone? She had a duty to inform the rest of the guild about her friend's ugly departure, ignoring the feelings raging war inside her.

Putting on a fake smile she perfected in her childhood, she picked up her things and walked out of the house, closing the door behind her without a single backwards glance. Walking towards Fairy Tail she refused to dwell on the fact that her life was basically over. She loved her family at Fairy Tail but she just couldn't imagine a happy life without Natsu, her one constant, beside her. He had been with her through so much pain, suffering, happiness, joy, grief, struggles, bliss. He was her everything and she never got a chance to even tell him that. Sure, Natsu would be back eventually. That's what his note said. But the question is if she could survive without falling into pieces before he did return. She's not a weak girl emotionally, magically she's not the strongest but she does pride herself on her emotional strength. However, this was just too much to take, she needed to walk away from it, lock it into a cage in her mind and throw away the key or else the sadness and depression lurking below the surface would overtake her. Losing track of time while struggling to lock her emotions and feelings away, she barely noticed when she arrived at the front doors of the guild. Pain swelled inside her chest and she heard lots of voices inside, she really didn't want to deliver this message in case they hadn't already heard but she felt like she had a duty to do so.

Pushing open the giant doors, Lucy stepped inside only to notice that nearly everyone in the guild was already present.

"Oh good, Lucy, you're here. Where is Natsu so we can begin the meeting?" Erza said from the front of the room. Lucy noticed that nearly everyone was in attendance. Her heart speed up a bit as Erza asked where Natsu was, tears starting to pool in her eyes as she replied back to the requip mage.

"Na…Natsu left me a note yesterday. He. He said… He said…" Lucy started to choke up and tears were freely streaming down her face at this point. So much for holding it together, she merely thought to herself and she struggled to continue. "Natsu left me a note saying that he and Happy took off to go train by themselves. He claims he needs to be stronger in order to protect us, he didn't even tell me in person."

At this news the entire guild fell silent. No one spoke as Erza and Gray slowly walked towards the blonde. Gray reached her first and pulled her into a cold embrace, his shirt long lost. Lucy leaned into her friend and allowed him to hold her as more tears streamed down her face. She felt a hard figure at her back as she and Gray were pulled towards a metal chest and two more arms wrapped around her back. Erza leaned in and whispered in Lucy's ear, "Don't worry. We will find him. I promise." Lucy started to cry even more. A few murmurs went through the crowd as people started to awkwardly shuffle, starring at the breakdown of a team in front of them. People left to go on long missions all the time, but never has a duo like Lucy and Natsu been broken up, and never has one member left without asking their partner and best friend beforehand.

Interrupting the heartfelt scene, Master Makarov stood on the bar and shouted, "Alright listen up you brats. Natsu took off without a word and that sucks. He's a dense idiot who doesn't know the good things he has in front of him if she hit him with a stick. Which she probably has, numerous times." At that, a few chuckles were heard in the guild hall over the silent tears being shed in the back by three friends. "I'm afraid I have some even worse news. I'm disbanding the guild. From today forward Fairy Tail is no longer a guild." At that, silence wouldn't even be the appropriate word to describe the lack of noise in the guild hall. Almost immediately every single mage in the guild started screaming, turning to each other and asking questions. The master simply turned his body, jumped down and walked out of the guild, not looking back and not answering any questions.

Mira tried to take control of the situation, stating that Fairy Hills would stay open for one remaining month to allow the residents proper time to find new housing, and that guild marks may be removed if requested but she won't force anyone to remove theirs. Fights started to break out, no one listening to Mira as everyone was blaming everyone else for the state of their guild. Confusion and shock spread like wildfire. If Natsu had been present, the guild probably wouldn't have stood another day, destroyed by his fire. But Natsu wasn't there, a painful fact that the blonde remembered at that moment.

Lucy refused to accept the fact that Fairy Tail disbanded right after her best friend had left her. The words just never took a foothold in her brain as she began to shutdown for the second time in a week. Gray and Erza were attempting to shout over the voices in the hall to each other, wondering what happened and what to do. Lucy simply slipped out the door in the chaos and slowly started to walk home. Her keys warmed up as the spirits sensed her discomfort and pain. Lucy half expected Loke to pop out and demand to know what was wrong, but he never showed up. She walked back to her apartment, a small part of her hoping that today and yesterday had all been a bad dream and she was about to wake up to a blue cat by her feet and a pink haired boy on her bed with her, but she never did. Instead she walked up to unlock the door and started to process everything that had happened the past few days. Natsu and Happy leaving really sucked, her heart broke again as she thought about that. But at least she had the guild to rely on, and then that too was ripped away from her in a blink of an eye. Lucy was left standing alone in her apartment, no one was coming to get her and no one would be there tomorrow morning. Depressed at these thoughts, Lucy made a split second decision to pack a bag with some basic belongings, grab enough money to pay her land lady a few months rent in advance, and walk out the door. Leaving the envelope with a short note explaining her absence and the money under her land lady's door, she started the short trek to the train station. Not caring about the destination, she purchased a random ticket and boarded the train, blocking out any noise or thought. Shutting down emotionally had once been a practice that Lucy perfected while living with her father. The past few years with Fairy Tail allowed her to be genuinely happy, but she didn't lose the ability of forcing all her thoughts to the back of her mind and locking them away. Focusing only on the next step she would take, Lucy sat down with her bag and shut her eyes, planning on waking when the train stopped or she was kicked off. It didn't really matter to her where she was going, she didn't have a guild to call home anymore and she didn't have Natsu following her around like a shadow. Her life, at this point, was in one of the lowest places since her mother had died. Struggling against the tears that were trying to fall, Lucy blocked out everything and began to doze while awaiting the next destination of her horrible life.


	2. Chapter 2

Lucy wasn't sure how long she had been asleep, or really where she even was. The sound of the train stopping at a station woke her up, figuring this stop is just as good as any of the other ones Lucy began to collect her things and get off the train to find a room to rent and a decent hot meal. The town she ended up in seemed nice, a bit smaller than Magnolia but larger than most that she's visited in the past on missions. Feeling herself fall back into the pain in her chest, she pushed thoughts aside of missions and her friends and her old town and began to explore the city. The first real smile passed across her face as she noticed the bookstore next to a café and hotel. Content with the setup, Lucy went into the hotel to obtain a key for the evening and drop off her few belongings, before deciding to eat a small meal at the café to refuel. The café was quaint and offered good food for a fair price.

"At least I don't have to spend half a month's rent on dinner anymore." Lucy thought to herself, thinking to her best friend's tendency to order one of everything off the menu. Sighing, she pushed the rest of her meal away, suddenly losing her appetite, mumbling to herself. "The bookstore would probably cheer me up, I haven't bought a new book in awhile and it would help me pass the time before I figure out what to do." Lucy paid for her meal and walked next door to the beautiful bookstore. Rows upon rows of books greeted her and she stood there in awe, never seeing a place as magnificent as this one. Happiness swelled in her chest as she traveled up and down rows of books, marveling at the titles and stories just waiting to be devoured. Lost in her own little world, Lucy didn't realize that someone was trying to get her attention. Placing her book down that she was skimming through, a friendly face greeted her.

"Oh, Yukino! I didn't see you.. Didn't realize you were there, I'm sorry!" Lucy said with a sad smile. Seeing Yukino just brought back everything she was attempting to suppress. Magic. Guilds. Friends. Natsu.

"Oh I'm sorry Lucy. I just didn't expect to see you here of all places, you were quite the surprise yourself! What are you doing here? I haven't heard of any missions offered around here, are you on a vacation?" Yukino smiled while holding a few books of her own.

"Oh. No. No mission and no vacation. I'm just here... to... get away for awhile. So I guess you could call it a vacation, didn't think of it like that." Lucy replied back to the white haired celestial mage. "Oh! That reminds me, I haven't seen you in so long, how are Pisces and Libra doing?"

"They are quite well thank you! I think they enjoy being in the newly reformed Sabertooth as much as I do. Oh Lucy, since you're in town please come by and see the new guild! We are all so proud of everything we have done and where we are compared to where we were! I just know Sting and the others would love to see you! Is anyone else from Fairy Tail in town right now?" Yukino questioned innocently. Word must not have traveled about Fairy Tail's disband to Sabertooth yet.

"No, Yukino. No one else from Fairy Tail is with me." Lucy replied very quietly while putting her head down. She no longer had any desire to be in this bookstore but didn't want to offend her friend. "It's just me." Tears began to form in her eyes as Lucy started to think about how alone she really was. She's in a strange town miles and miles away from the only home she truly had. Her best friend was Mavis knows where and he left her without saying goodbye, and now she's in a bookstore making small talk to a mage that clearly has no idea what's going on with her life. Lucy was miserable and on the verge of breaking down.

Yukino noticed the drastic change in the blonde and knew something was up. Since when did Lucy travel alone? Since when did Natsu not follow her around no matter where she went? Natsu was practically a puppy dog when it came to Lucy, something huge is obviously going on but she didn't want to embarrass her friend anymore then she already was, especially with the fresh tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. Deciding that she was going to help the blonde, Yukino set her books down to give Lucy a soft hug. "Hey Lucy, you don't need to talk about it, but how about we head back to Sabertooth for the night? We can have some drinks and swim and not talk about anything, would just be nice to have some company."

Lucy tensed up as Yukino spoke the soft words. Panicking, she blurted out the first excuse she could think of. "Oh.. Well.. Yukino that sounds nice but..." Not wanting to hurt the white haired mage's feelings, Lucy tried to be as nice as possible when on the verge of crying "I already have a hotel room for the night and all my stuffs there and I would really just like to take a bath and head to bed. I was on a train all day and just need a night in to relax I think. By myself. I'm sorry."

"Ok that's fine, but tomorrow morning I'm coming to get you bright and early and take you to the guild to get some breakfast and catch up! I would also love to spar with you to see how well we have both done with training! I'm not taking no for an answer!" Yukino replied happily, knowing that Lucy was depressed over something and refused to let the girl just wallow alone in a hotel room. Yukino may not know Lucy as much as she would like to, but she knows heartbreak when she sees it. Resolving herself to get to the bottom of the blonde's pain and help in any way she can, Yukino bid Lucy farewell for the evening, promising to be by first thing in the morning.

Lucy walked back to her room, deciding to do exactly what she told the other celestial mage. Lucy started herself a hot bath and relaxed for awhile before curling up in bed and attempting to fall asleep. Just like the other evening, the pain of losing her friends, her family, and Natsu was threatening to overtake her. Lucy was strong though and pushed the thoughts aside and finally fell asleep in the middle of the night, only crying a little at the current state of her life. The next morning came way too soon and Lucy wanted nothing more than to stay in bed all day eating ice cream and reading sad novels. But knowing Yukino would be there shortly, and not wanting to show any weakness to the other mage, Lucy got up and got ready for the day. Deciding on one of the outfits she threw in her bag, Lucy dressed in a red tank top that showed her stomach just a bit, black tight pants and black knee high boots. Satisfied with the state of her hair and minor makeup, Lucy started to head downstairs to wait on Yukino.

Not long after walking downstairs, Lucy noticed a few figures walking near her hotel. Recognizing Yukino along with Rogue and the Exceed Frosch, Lucy gave the trio a small wave. Yukino approached her and held out her arms for a huge hug while greeting Lucy. "Lucy! I'm so excited to see you this morning! I told everyone at the guild that you would be visiting today and Frosch was so excited to see you and catch up that he begged Rogue to join me this morning. So we will all be your escort to Sabertooth today. Sting even requested a private meeting with you to chat and welcome you to the city and guild, how awesome is that? He even said you have full access to anything Sabertooth has while in town! Sting is such a good master don't you think?"

Lucy started to tear up a bit at the kindness the other mages are sharing with her, as well as thinking about her past guild and master. Hugging Yukino back, Lucy simply replied "Thanks you guys, I really appreciate it. I would love to come visit and see Sabertooth today. And Frosch," she turned to the impatient Exceed "I missed you too. I love that you wanted to come personally greet me today, you are such a kind friend."

Upon hearing her kind words and accepting a hug from the blonde, Frosch blushed and mumbled shyly about friends and started to tear up from happiness. Rogue simply watched the scene, noticing that something was off with the blonde celestial mage, confirming Yukino's suspicions from last night. Rogue asked Sting to do some digging into Fairy Tail and he should have some answers for them by the time they get back to the guild. If someone had happened to Lucy, Rogue knew that Fairy Tail and especially Natsu wouldn't be happy and might possibly destroy half the continent to make things right. Precautions to get to the bottom of the issue and reunite friends was a top priority for the shadow dragonslayer right now.

The group slowly started heading over to the Sabertooth headquarters as Lucy and Yukino chatted casually about their celestial magic. Lucy thought it was nice to have someone to talk to about her magic, sometimes the wizards in Fairy Tail didn't understand how her magic worked or the limits and shortcomings of being a summoner type mage, instead comparing her magic to the brute force of types like Erza and even Natsu. Yukino understood perfectly that their type of magic excelled at certain situations instead of punch your way through your enemies, and even offered some helpful tips on how to handle certain battle situations. Thinking about her old friends started to make the blonde upset so she pushed the thoughts aside again, to deal with them another day, choosing instead to enjoy time spent with Sabertooth. Shortly after leaving the hotel the group found themselves at a large gate. Never seeing Sabertooth's new guild before, Lucy stopped to gap at the sight before her. A large imposing structure stood before her, almost twice the size of the current Fairy Tail guild, surrounded by a large fence and gate. The most surprising part of the building was the statue of a large sharp toothed cat that was situated on top. The statue, she noted, was the cat that the guild was named after, a saber-tooth tiger protecting the guild. Shocked but impressed, Lucy gave her friends a smile as if approving of the guild. She knew that Sabertooth was recently trying to focus on their bonds of friendship instead of sheer magical power and they were probably very proud of their new building, a smile went a long way to show that she understood and appreciated it.

Rogue pushed the gate open and lead the remaining trio through the courtyard. The grass was very green and taken care of, flowers well manicured and trees trimmed. Overall it was a pleasing courtyard, full of life and well loved. Upon entering the imposing structure, Lucy was greeted with a similar situation she was used to, lots of voices and cheers at the arrivals. Sabertooth was happy to have a visitor from Fairy Tail, and especially thrilled that it was the kind Lucy. Starting to feel emotional, Lucy turned from the crowd and asked Yukino if she should go meet Sting now. Nodding, Yukino turned to Rogue and had Lucy follow the man to the back of the room. Being stopped a few times on their trip back, people patting or asking questions to Lucy as she passed by, finally Rogue led her to a small door marked Master. Pushing the door open without knocking, Sting had heard them walking up with his enhanced hearing, Rogue simply let her in and closed the door leaving the two alone.

"Welcome to Sabertooth Lucy, we're very happy to have you here! We can't wait to show you around and tell you about all the changes we are going through." Sting greeted her with a wide toothy smile very similar to her best friend's. "And we will have plenty of time for that. I'm just going to go ahead and cut to the chase so we can enjoy the party that they are more than likely preparing for your honor. I don't want to sour the good mood going on out there so I ask that we talk truthfully. Yesterday Yukino came to me very upset at whatever is going on with you, she of course noticed no matter how hard you tried to hide it. She cares about you Lucy, what you did for her back in the Grand Magic Games, plus sharing your love for the spirits makes her view you as a sort of extended family member. We take care of our family here, and in this case that's extended to you. I did some digging after she left yesterday, requesting communication from Fairy Tail to find out what's going on. I'm not going to apologize for doing this, as Master of this guild I need to keep up to date on the activities of ally guilds in case of emergencies. I found out what happened a few days ago Lucy, and I honestly have no words. No one, absolutely no one from the other guilds had any idea what Master Makarov was thinking prior to this disbandment. It was not a plan that the other masters were aware of and some are upset, most are however, offering placement for former Fairy Tail members. We all talked last night and came to an agreement that any Fairy Tail wizard who wishes to join another guild may do so, we are all opening our doors to them. We even decided that in the case of Fairy Tails inevitable reformat, any wizard who wishes to leave and rejoin will meet no resistance. I would like to think that if something happened to Sabertooth, Fairy Tail would be there to welcome my members with open arms until I could reform again. I'm not saying you need to join another guild, just that the option is there and we would love to have you in the meantime of this horrible event."

Lucy sat quiet through Sting's speech, emotionless. Too much was going on in her head at the same time that she began to shutdown and pull the mask over her face that she used to wear while in her father's house. Sting knew about Fairy Tail. Sting and the other masters formed a plan to take in old Fairy Tail members in a loving embrace, not expecting anything in return, just out of kindness. Lucy could join Sabertooth and find a second family since her original had broken apart. The only thing that kept burning a hole in her chest was the thought of Natsu. What would he think if she joined another guild? Would he be upset? Would he come storming in the doors demanding to take Lucy back to where she belonged and threatening to fight anyone that stood in his way? Finally seeing a ray of hope in the darkness she has been living in for a few days, Lucy started to process what Natsu leaving meant to her. No Natsu meant no partner to take missions with. No missions meant no money, no rent, no food, no shopping. Lucy loved to shop more than most people and without a steady flow of income she would be seriously depressed with her clothing choices. But without Natsu, she can't enjoy life anymore. Without Natsu life wasn't worth enjoying, but since he left her she doesn't really have a choice but to grit her teeth and move on right? Maybe what Sting offered her was a way out, a way to hide her pain and slowly start the process of getting her heart broken and then having her family ripped away from her. Coming to a conclusion, Lucy raised her head to Sting who had been waiting patiently for her answer.

"Sting. Thank you for talking to the other masters and discussing our situation. I'm sure plenty of mages will find happy homes in the other guilds, especially younger ones like Wendy and Carla. Before I give you an answer, I want to make a request. Leave Natsu out of this. I'm going to speak plainly with you since you took the time to ensure safe homes for the other Fairy Tail members, Natsu left the day prior to Fairy Tail disbanding, leaving only a note behind letting me know that he and Happy were going out to train for an undetermined amount of time. I don't believe he meant anything malicious about it, he didn't know that Fairy Tail would disband after he left, but the fact that it did still remains. He broke my heart and I honestly can't deal with talk of Natsu or missions to go find him. I need time to heal and deal with everything that's going on right now, I hope you can understand." Finally getting that off her chest for the first time in days, Lucy realized just how much holding everything in can make things worse. Sting nodded softly and gave her a small smile.

"I'm sorry Lucy. I wasn't aware of Natsu's departure prior to the events a few days ago. Frankly, I'm a bit pissed off at that hot head. He's dense but not an idiot, I can't believe he just left you without saying anything and didn't even think about bringing you along on this soul searching mission of his." Letting out an angry huff, Sting stood up and started to pace the office floor. "I'll agree to leaving Natsu out of discussions with you, but I can't promise that everyone else will unless you let them know what you told me. At least let Yukino know if you don't want to tell anyone else. I have a feeling the two of you will become strong friends and she might understand a bit better than I do about all this. She often tells me I'm as dense as concrete, so I think it's a dragonslayer thing." Shooting off the eerily similar Natsu smile, Sting walked towards Lucy. "I can promise that you can be happy here if you try. We are really trying here to make a fun and safe guild for everyone. I think having you around will be awesome for everyone. I'll request that your first few missions be with someone else just to get a feel of things. I will also bribe you with some hand to hand combat training with myself, Rogue, and Yukino since we all spar together daily. I think you can afford some additional training with your whip and unarmed in case you're ever in a position that you don't have your keys. Yukino has become very self sufficient and I would love to see you that way someday as well. Trust us Lucy, we won't let you down here. We want to help you."

Finally coming to a decision, Lucy stood up. If Natsu can just up and leave everyone to train to become stronger, what's stopping Lucy from doing the same? Maybe one day she will meet up with her best friend and knock some sense into him. "Alright Sting, I'm in. Let's train so that one day I can beat some actual brains into Natsu and Happy. I'll track them down one day, but in the meantime let's do this!"

"PERFECT! ROGUE! YUKINO!" Sting yelled and cheered punching the air with his arm. "COME ON IN GUYS, SHE SAID YES!" Yukino and Rogue bust in the room, most likely waiting near the door in case Sting needed them. Yukino ran and hugged the blonde mage and Rogue joined Sting grabbing his back with his arm. "Last thing Lucy, I really hate to bring it up when everyone is so happy, but we will have to remove the Fairy Tail stamp and give you a new Sabertooth one. Of course, just temporary until Fairy Tail inevitably comes back."

Shaking slightly at the thought, Lucy never actually believed she would be rid of her pink stamp marking her hand. She thought back to the day Natsu found her and her first day in the guild, and then all the happy memories she had in them. Clenching her fist, Lucy nodded and held out her hand. Yukino wiped the stamp off her hand with the magic eraser and then grabbed the Sabertooth one.

"Where would you like it Lucy?" Yukino questioned.

Thinking hard about this, she didn't want to mark up the same hand as the one her Fairy Tail stamp once lived, and thinking the other hand would probably be weird as well, Lucy made up her mind. "Right arm. Bicep."

Surprised about her choice, seeing as similar that is to her dragonslayer friend, Yukino nodded and moved into her arm to mark it. "And the color Lucy?"

Lucy didn't even need to think before she responded with "Red."

"You sure Lucy?" Sting questioned, knowing just what the mage was asking them to do to her. Everyday she would be reminded of her best friend.

"Yes. Do it." Lucy responded, locking eyes with her new Master. "I can handle it. I want to remember. I want to get stronger and find him and knock some sense in him."

Yukino placed the stamp down on Lucy's arm and Lucy moved her arm to look at the strange mark on her body. A pang of guilt went through her as she thought about all her friends from Fairy Tail, until she remember that Fairy Tail no longer existed and she was left alone to find her own way. Smiling up at everyone in the room, Lucy thanked them all and thought to herself that this was the beginning of something awesome if she would let it, and in due time she would ask Sting to let her go find that idiot friend of hers to find out the truth behind his leaving, and to let him know just what it was doing to her in the present.

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 **Hey guys, this is deff a slow burn NaLu, you'll see a little of him next chapter but we've gotta set Lucy up first. She's the one that was abandoned by her best friend and then her 'family' fell apart a few days after that, so she's obviously going to get some attention first off. I've got some awesome plans for our lovable fire breather, he doesn't realize how much he hurt his best friend yet since he didn't know Fairy Tail was going to break up after he left Lucy, I have a feeling if he did, he would have asked her to join him :)  
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 **I'm hoping to update as much as I can! Writing one day and editing the next one, so hoping to keep around every 2-3 days depending on how busy I am at work. Thanks for all the reads so far, makes me pretty happy!**


	3. Chapter 3

Flipping forward a few months

Natsu and Happy sat at a campfire in the middle of nowhere, on top of a cold mountain. Barren trees covered with snow and the occasional howl from a stray wolf were the duos only company on the abandoned mountain. Natsu had long since silenced himself, Happy was distracted and barely picking at his now cold fish.

"Natsu... I miss Lucy..." Happy whined to his friend. "I miss her bed. I miss the way she makes my fish. No one else makes fish as good as Lucy does. I miss the way she would kick us out of her apartment when we snuck in at night. I even miss the slaps and kicks she would give us when we fought with each other or got on her nerves."

Natsu sighed at his best friend, this was a conversation that happened more and more frequently since the two set off a few months back. At first they were excited about their training and wanted to become as strong as possible. As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, Natsu noticed that life just didn't hold the same amount of joy that he was used to. Training wasn't as exciting anymore that there wasn't anyone here to fight with besides Happy, who wasn't much of a sparring partner. Most of all, he shared the cat's sentiments about missing Lucy.

Natsu didn't realize just how deeply ingrained the blonde was in his life until he took her out. Not that any of this was on purpose, Natsu had a reason of walking away from his friends and striding out to the wilderness alone. He had to become stronger, he had to after what happened during the grand magic games with the eclipse gate and with future Lucy and future Rogue. Resolving himself to never be put into a situation like that again where he felt totally helpless, Natsu made the split second decision to leave to train for a year or so to become the strongest mage in Fiore. He did it for Fairy Tail and for Lucy, so why does he feel so crappy all the time?

"Yeah buddy, I know. I miss her too. But you know why we're here. Do you remember what happened? Do you remember what we promised each other? We have to become stronger to protect Luce. I won't watch... I just can't Happy. I can't do it again. We need to be out here and we need to keep training." Natsu put his head in his hands and held tight.

Happy nodded at his friend but still started to cry. "I know Natsu I just really miss her. Can't we go back and visit Fairy Tail for a little while? Wouldn't that be okay to take a small break from training? I just want to see her... And Carla. I really miss her." The small Exceed started to cry even more at the thought of the white cat.

"I'm not sure buddy. I have a feeling if we went back to visit we wouldn't be able to leave again. I doubt Lucy would let us out of her sight after seeing us again, I don't think she's too happy with us leaving her behind. I wish we could have taken her but I'm doing this FOR her. To protect her over everyone else. Hopefully when we finish training and I defeat Zeref, Lucy will understand and forgive us both for doing what we had to do." Natsu said while patting Happy's head.

"Okay Natsu. I hope so too. I don't think I would like Fairy Tail as much unless Lucy was there with us. She sure is fun to pick on and make fun of. And she's a really good cook! And she lets me cuddle in her bed with her!" Happy smiled up to the dragonslayer remembering all the good times they have had with Lucy.

"Yeah Happy, she really makes Fairy Tail a special place doesn't she? Let's wrap up eating and head back to the cave. Tomorrow we need to head down to the town and get some new supplies, we're almost out up here. Come on." Natsu put out the campfire and gathered the remaining food, mostly untouched due to the conversation at hand, and led the two back to a cave to sleep for the night.

The next morning Natsu woke Happy up early to head down into the small village near their current camp. Natsu didn't like staying in one place too long since he feared Fairy Tail was out looking for him and he wasn't done with his training yet. Shuddering to think what Erza would do to him if she was the one to find them, Natsu bundled up in a heavy cloak and covered his distinctive hair with a hood. Shoving Happy down in the large pocket created to conceal the Exceed, the two set off to the village to buy provisions they could not get themselves on the mountaintop.

Around the same time that Happy and Natsu were traveling to the small village, a group of people were passing through the area tracking down a gang of thieves who have gotten such a bad reputation that the capital sent a small task force led by two wizards. The gang had taken shelter in the surrounding woods and the leader of the task force was attempting to find them without giving up the element of surprise.

"Do you smell anything yet?" The smaller of the two captains spoke quietly to the larger one.

"Naw. Nothin' yet. Place reeks of animals and trees though. No one has been here in awhile." The larger one spoke gruffly. Irritated at the situation, he took a larger whiff, and suddenly stood very still. His eyes narrowed as he smelled the air again, anger passing over his face briefly.

"What is it? Did you find them?" The smaller figure spoke up, noticing the expression and body language of the larger male.

Choosing his words carefully, not wanting to upset the smaller mage with false hope, the male decided to lie to his friend in order to protect her. "Nope. Nothin' shrimp, no one is here and hasn't been here. Let's go somewhere else. Take the men to the village for the day to ask around, I'll stick out here in case someone comes through since I can smell them before they find me."

"Alright Gajeel, but be careful. You know how dangerous these guys can be. If you find them don't engage, call for backup and we will be there. I'll see you later." The blue haired girl spoke to her friend before leading the other men away from him.

Waiting until the group was out of earshot, he spoke down to the black cat who has sat silently through the entire exchange, "Lily. Natsu's here. I'm going to catch him before Levy sees him and beats him senseless. Let's go." The cat nodded and the two took off to where the metal dragonslayer last smelt the pink haired idiot. Running through the woods hoping to catch their prey unaware, Gajeel easily caught up to a cloaked figure who he assumed was Natsu, pouncing on him in surprise.

Being landed on in the middle of the woods woke Natsu up from the daydream of Lucy, angry at himself for not noticing the intruder before being pummeled, Natsu started punching wildly to defend himself. "GET OFF ME!" He screamed while lacing his fists with fire at the enemy.

"You idiot, you have been out here for months and you still don't pay enough attention to what's going on around you. You're still a flame brained burn out." Gajeel responded while simultaneously punching the fire dragonslayer back. The two rolled on the ground punching and kicking like crazy, Natsu now realizing who it was and getting into the spar. Happy escaped the cloak and flew over to where Lily was sitting to join his friend.

"Hey Lily! Long time no see, what are you and Gajeel doing out here?" Happy said happily to his friend.

"Happy. Gajeel and Levy are here on a mission to find a group of bandit thieves. Have you seen any around these parts?" Lily said stone-faced to the blue cat.

"Nope! Natsu and I have been living in the mountains for awhile now, no one dares to go up there. It's too cold." Happy whined back while fluffy out his coat, acting like he was freezing cold.

The two cats then proceded to watch the two dragonslayers beat the living crap out of each other. Natsu was happy to have someone to spar against, and Gajeel was just plain ticked off. This rumble went on for awhile until the two started to wear each other out. The punches got weaker and Natsu's smile got bigger, so happy to see someone from Fairy Tail after so long. Gajeel finally put his arm out and that enough's enough and the two panting from exhaustion.

"Oh man... Gajeel... It's been too long! Nice one metal face!" Natsu smiled happily, arms resting on his knees as he caught his breath.

"About that Salamander. This ain't no happy call. We need to talk. So be a good idiot and sit down and listen, no interrupting before I'm done, I don't have time for your crap so you are going to do what I say." Gajeel barked out. Natsu simply sat down to listen to what his friend had to say, it was obviously pretty important. Plus he was tired anyway and sitting down gave him an excuse to rest up. "You really are dumb as rocks you know that? Freaking embarrassing to dragonslayers everywhere. I still can't believe what you did. Idiot!"

"Gajeel. He probably doesn't know. Happy claims they have been living in seclusion since leaving." Lily pointed out, trying to calm down the iron dragonslayer.

"Ain't no difference. Still happened. But I'll go real and easy on you since you got ash for brains. You left, with a freaking NOTE. A NOTE. What were you thinking? I honestly don't give two craps about you but I do care about some people, and you really screwed up this time. Last time we saw bunny girl, she couldn't even hold it together to form a complete sentence. Her bad attitude put a damper on Levy, and I gotta deal with that crap so it's all your fault." Gajeel spat out.

"What do you mean? What's the matter with Lucy? Where is she? Last time you saw her? Come to think of it... what are you doing here Gajeel?" Natsu rattled out quickly.

"NO FREAKING INTERRUPTING. Last time I saw Lucy was when Fairy Tail split up months ago. The day after you left her with a stupid note. You freaking idiot, you tore that girl apart and she took off once she found out Fairy Tail disbanded. I haven't heard from her..." Gajeel started speaking softly, trying to remember the last time he heard from Lucy.

Natsu shot up the second Gajeel mentioned Fairy Tail "What do you mean? Gajeel? Fairy Tail disbanded? Impossible, gramps wouldn't do that!"

"Dumb as rocks, that's what you are. Yup. Master split up Fairy Tail the day after you took off on this training quest of yours. I'm not going to pretend like I know what's going on with you, that's your own business and I ain't one to dig too much into other people's lives, I honestly don't care. In fact I really don't care what you're doing or when you are coming back, or why. Just wanted to let you know that you're an idiot and thought you might like to know Fairy Tail broke up." Gajeel responded while signaling for Lily to follow. "I'm heading back to the village. Levy and the men are there trying to track down some bandits. Stay away from there till we are gone, I don't want Levy seeing you. Rather just not deal with that right now, she's even more pissed off then I am."

Natsu just sank to the ground and didn't even notice when Gajeel and Lily left the clearing they were in. "Fairy Tail broke up? Impossible. Master wouldn't do that." Grabbing his head in his hands again, Natsu sat silently for some time, Happy watching for a distance knowing his friend needed some time to process this. Happy was silently crying, thinking about all his friends that were now undoubtedly scattered around the country.

Natsu just sat and thought about every memory he had in the guild, the guilt trying to crush him for leaving everyone like that. Finally his thoughts turned back to the blonde mage that took over so much of his mind. "We did all this for Lucy, and now we don't even know where she is. Happy." Natsu looked over to his friend, eyes rimmed with tears. "What do we do now?"

"I'm not sure Natsu. I miss Lucy, but we don't know where she is. And we haven't finished training your new moves yet, I don't think you're ready to go back. Not that there's much to go back to now..." Happy replied sadly.

"I know Happy. I know. I can't help think this is all my fault. I left Lucy to protect her and the rest of the guild by getting stronger, thinking that she would be safe and happy with the rest of our friends. Now that she doesn't even have that, I want to go find her. Maybe she can join us and finish off training, I can take it..." Natsu said to his blue friend. "I miss her so much. I feel so guilty for leaving her since she doesn't have Fairy Tail anymore. What do I do?" Kneeling back on the ground, head in hands, Natsu started to cry from frustration, guilt, and anger at himself. Happy flew over to his friend and snuggled up against him, offering the only support he can while the pink haired man let out his feelings. Both Happy and Natsu were torn between finishing their training to protect their friends and defeat Zeref, or go and find Lucy and make things right between them. Deciding to just spend the day and night camped in the clearing, the two friends comforted each other from the stress and guilt weighing down on them, reaching no final decision.

"Oh wow Lucy, excellent! You certainly have come a long way with your sword training." Yukino praised to her close friend after finishing a sparring match. "You might even be able to take Rogue in a sword fight now!"

Smiling while putting her sword away, Lucy replied "Thanks Yukino! He has taught me everything I know, but still kicks my butt since he's faster and stronger. But I feel more comfortable now with my hand to hand skills in case I lose my keys or run out of magic in the middle of a fight."

The two girls walked out of the training room to grab a shower before lunch. In the past few months Lucy spent every morning she wasn't out on a mission in the training rooms. Some days she would work on her sword skills with Rogue, some days unarmed hand to hand with Sting, and some days building up her magical capacities by summoning multiple spirits and fighting against Yukino. Like clockwork, Lucy would shower and change after training and grab lunch with whoever was in the Guildhall at the time, then she would go to her room to be alone for a few hours to write or meditate. Then she would head out for a jog around town, building up her endurance in case she ever needed to run long distances in the future. A long lap session in the pool followed the run, and then dinner before whatever activity the guild was going to do in the evenings. Some days it was sparring matches, some days a movie would be playing on the lacrima device, or some days she would just spend it alone reading a book in the corner.

Overall, Lucy was content with her new life in Sabertooth. She has gotten to know quite a few members very well, and enjoyed going out on solo or group missions. Yukino was by far her closest friend, followed by Rogue and Sting just because she spent the most time training with them all. But every night before bed, Lucy would look up at the stars and think about Natsu, what he was doing, where he was at, was he thinking about her? Lucy tried so hard to lock all the feelings she had for him away somewhere, but every night she would tear up thinking about him and Happy. Thinking herself pathetic, Lucy never shared these moments with anyone in Sabertooth, so no one really knew how hurt she still was.

Lucy long ago forgave the dragonslayer for leaving her, he wasn't aware of the situation with Fairy Tail, couldn't guess that he would be leaving her before the guild splitting up. Lucy also knew that her best friend most likely had a very good reason for leaving everyone behind, she just wished she knew what it was. She denied to herself that she had feelings for her friend that went beyond that of friendship, admitting that right now would potentially break her even more and she didn't want the additional pain.

Feeling a bit rambunctious today, Lucy decided to finally bring up something that she's had on her mind for awhile to Sting. Finding the dragonslayer was pretty easy, he was always in the guild hall picking a fight or laughing it up, he reminded her so much of Natsu and maybe that's why the two of them get along so well. Resolving herself for the upcoming fight, Lucy walked straight up to Sting.

"Hey Sting, I've been meaning to tell you for awhile now..." Lucy looked up to Sting as she grabbed his full attention, her eyes deadly serious. "Fairy Tail had a pool before you guys, and it was at least twice as big." She finally sang out with a huge smile on her face, watching Sting's entire expression drop from glee to disbelief to finally anger as he took off running towards the blonde. Lucy's eyes got huge as she laughed and sprinted away from him, the chase took them around the guild until Sting finally stopped playing and grabbed her around her waist, dragging her to said pool.

"At least twice as big huh? Well... looks like we will just have to get rid of this one and make it 4 times as big!" Sting rejoiced as he threw Lucy into the pool, laughing as she spat up water and glared up at him.

"Oh you are so paying for that... Gate of the Water Bearer, I open thee! Aquarius!" Lucy screamed out while dipping her key in the water. Sting's eyes got huge as he was blasted with a giant torrent of water, which also ripped out half the surrounding walls in the pool house. Looks like Sting would get his bigger pool after all thanks to Aquarius and Lucy.


End file.
